EPIPHANY IN ROME.

Evening Star, Issue 15065, 23 December 1912, Page 3

EPIPHANY IN ROME.

—The Wise Men from the East.—

Long ago, says the tale of La Befana, ■when the wise men .<■•<?t out from the East to worship the Holy Bambino, they passed the cottage of an old woman on tho vav and stayed there to rest. And in return for her hospitality they told her where, and why they journeyed," and asked her to come with them and welcome Gesu Bambino to earth. But La Befana (which was the name of the old woman) said she had no time. She must clean her house, which was dirty. So the wise men went away on their camels after the star, and La Befana began to clean her house. She washed and polished and scrubbed, and all the time she grew more and more sorry that, ehe had not gone with the wise men, until at last she could bear it no longer, and to show that- she really wanted to welcome Gesu Bambino with the others she took a sack and filled it with all the toys that a bambino would like, and setout to walk after the wise men. But when she came to Bethlehem the wise men had long since gone home, and the star shone no more. There were no singing angels nor any Holy Bambino. So La Befana set out again to look for Gesu Bambino. She thought and thought of a way to find Him, and at last she"thought that if she gave a toy from her sack to every good child she met she might at last give a gift to the one whom she came to seek. She never found Gesu Bambino, so she still goes about the world giving away toys to good children, and on the Eve of Epiphany, if the Italian children hang up their stockings, La Befana will come in the night and fill them with toys, but the stockings of the bad children she fills with ashes, for with bad children she can have nothing to do. So in Rome Epiphany and not Christmas is the high festival of the children, and the- great Piazza Navona- is crowded with booths of toys from Christmas Eve to the night of Epiphany.

—No Ghosts in Italy.— In England and North Europe, the countries of unsteady sunshine, of mists and fogs, of long dark winters and much indoor life, manifestations of the supernatural aro steadily believed in by the peasant. Such manifestations take many forms—trances, ghosts, fairies, second sight, cornmivnicatiors on All Hallows Eve, psychic influences of innumerable kinds. But. in Italy there are no ghosts nor fairies, no mysterious apparitions. Everything is as concrete as the sunshine, as definite as the shadows. The peasant who crosses the campagna at dusk hangs his mule's collar with bells to frighten the demons. Almost every child wears an amulet or charm to keep away sickness and ill-wishing, and the prayers in the country churches are many of them for protection from sudden death and demons. But the Italian peasant lias a, very concrete imagination. If he wishes the protection of a certain saint he will eat him baked in the form of a biscuit which the priest will give him in the church. If he sprains his ankle he will hang it round with charms which he can see. If misfortune overtakes a district and the harvest or vintage fail, it is not the mysterious "act of God," but the fault of some quite definite thing—the blood of San Gennario has not liquefied or some local Madonna has been displeased. —The Holy Bambino.— Perhaps one of the most curious demonstrations of this literal temper is to be seen in Rome at the Church of the Aracoeli, which has the custody of the Santissimo Bambino (Most Holy Child), in whose honor there is from Christmas to* Epiphany a great festa. The church itself stands high on the Capitol Hill, at the head of a flight of 124 marble steps, which once led to the Temple of Jupiter ; Below it are the wolves and eagles of Rome in their cages, and it was here, while the Franciscan brethren were singing vespers in this church, that Gibbon, musing over the strange contrasts visible everywhere, conceived the idea of writing the 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.' The great flight of steps itself constitutes a kind of fair during this week. Seller? of noisy toys establish their wares up the whole "ascent, and the pious push their way through the crowd, to the shrine of the Holy Babe. This is a little wooden image, carved by a Franciscan monk in Palestine, which acquired and continues to possess the reputation of working miracles. It is carried to the beds of the sick and laid beside them to heal them. Letters are written to it. It is covered from head to foot with costly jewels, and crowned with a jewelled gold crown, solemnly_ presented by the Vatican. The presepio in the racoeli (a kind of staged tableau of the scene in the inn at Bethlehem, which is common also in the English Catholic churches at Christmas Jimo) has for this week as its centre thegveritable miracleworking image itself, fee pushes through the crowd and enters the church. It is full of a heavy scaffolding, which in England w-ould interdict any ceremony within. But not so in Italy, where the ceremony is mors important than the tidiness of the church. The presepio fills a side chapel. Mary the Mother holds the jewelled bambino, angels fill the clouds, the sun hangs at the back of the stage, shepherds and sheep how down. It is a pretty tableau, and ardently admired by the people. " E nn capo-lavoro questo " (This is a masterpiece), exclaimed a peasant behind me.

—Children at Play.—

Italy is a country where little children are loved and spoiled, and it is not difficult to see how one of the most human and charming 'customs of this Epiphany festival came about. Opposite the presepio is a little pulpit, and from this little wooden platform children running in from their play At aaff aad *U bomes si the day

preach sermons in praise.of the Holy Child. The pulpit is set at the side ; where (whether by accident or pretty design) the sui.eet lights a halo in the hair of the children, inerej js mo grown-up control apparent. The children come from their play when they feel inclined, mount the platfoTm, and with grace and animation and pretty assumption of reverence (which is taught), and an evident wish to do well (which is innate), recite in high baby voices the love of Gesu Bambino, and ran cut to play, until they feel disposed to go and say their sermon over again to a new congregation. Snatches of their childish voices echo in the scaffolding. It does not matter in the least that three or four ceremonies are going on at once in the church. A baby is saying: "Little child Jesus is crying. No. don't cry, little Jesus. Here are my own little hands for you." Far at the altar there is a great illumination ; in the gallery the Franciscan brothers axe singing the' Pastorale ; the crowd throng the presepio, and the sunset thrusts a way through fhu scaffolding from the open door. It is the day on which Christ was manifested, to the Gentiles, and the high flight of steps, together with the possession of the miraculous image, suggested doubtless the ceremony which closes the day of Epiphany. The monks leave their gallery and walk in procession down the church carrying lighted candles. The choir, with a banner, are in the midst. When they reach the presepio they burst into singing 'Gloria in excelsis -Deo,' the Prior of the Order ascends the stage, and lifts the costlv Bambino, which he holds high in front of him. Then _ the procession (guarded by Carabinieri, for the crowd is immense, and the Bambino has manv valuables .upon him) issues without the church to the head of the steps, and the Bambino is held aloft to the people to signify the showing of Christ to the Gentiles. The procession then enters the church, the monks singing again as they reach the door, and the miraculous image is once more set in his own chapel upon' his own little altar. Epiphany is over.—Gertrude H. Bone, in the 'Manchester Guardian.'